If you’ve had a chance to read the articles on this site, you’ll already know that I’m a fervent advocate of the importance of sources of information in genealogical research.
Indeed, if you want to obtain a genealogy that is faithful to reality and free from approximations, the only solution is to start from the principle that all information must come from a referenced and searchable source. Obtaining sourced information is therefore essential!
What is an information source?
First of all, we need to define what we mean by an information source.
A source of information is generally a document containing one or more items of information relating to your genealogy, such as a birth certificate.
Most often, the document is a written document of some antiquity, the original of which is held in an archive or notary’s office. But the document can also be an illustration, a video or a sound extract.
Whatever the medium, the document contains one (or more) pieces of information that constitute testimony, not to say proof. The information may relate, for example, to a date, a place or a relationship. This confirmed information can then be used in your research, bearing in mind that even official documents can contain errors.
In other words, having an official source for a piece of information is a minimum requirement, but having at least two sources for the same piece of information is a guarantee that erroneous information will not be used.
Are all sources the same?
The strength of an information source lies in its ability to be considered reliable.
For example, a civil register for a given town and year will provide you with reliable evidence. In fact, in France, civil register information is almost error-free, with errors appearing more at the time of reading in the case of handwritten records with approximate calligraphy.
The parish registers, drawn up by the parish priests, can quite easily contain “liberties” as to the identity of the people present, particularly as regards the first names given and the spelling of surnames. But they remain an essential basis for baptisms and burials.
Notarial deeds are reliable, but it should not be forgotten that they are often based on other official deeds, and that notaries do not carry out investigations to verify them. They can therefore unwittingly “peddle” erroneous information.
Illustrations, press reports and articles, theses and any other written material – particularly those of a historical nature – must be taken into account with due reserve as to the veracity of the information and the good faith of their authors.
Finally, let’s not forget the stories we can gather from our ancestors. Even if they do not have the force of “legal” proof, they are indicators that we must try to confirm.
How can we give value to sources?
A source of information becomes proof if you can establish its veracity.
It is therefore absolutely essential to always consult the original source of information, and not a transcription or a simple mention in a register or index.
The fact that you can now consult many digitized documents via the Internet is an absolutely tremendous advantage. But that doesn’t change the fact that you must consult the original digitized document or not.
In genealogy software, it is often possible to assign a score from 0 to 3 to the reliability of the source.
How to refer to sources?
It’s not enough to have consulted a source. You also need to be able to refer to it and enable others to find it.
If you consult official websites such as those of the French departmental archives, the easiest way is to use the classification of the document, which includes a “call number” assigned by the archives service.
If the document does not have an official classification number, indicate the document title, author, publication date and location.
Last but not least, remember to keep a copy (scan) of all the documents you cite as sources of information in your genealogy. We’ll look at how to organize these copies for easy retrieval in a later article.
Did you know that there’s a quick and easy solution to help you identify unsourced information in your genealogy?
This article is part of our “12 Labors of the genealogist” series.
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